April 2021 Articles

Limited Company Contracting in 2021/22? Time for a Rethink

Are you a contractor? Are you planning to work through your own limited company in the new tax year? New IR35 rules could mean that it’s time to rethink the ltd way of working.

Changes to off-payroll working (IR35) rules mean that contractors are more likely to be caught out. From the start of the 2021/22 tax year, private sector clients will be responsible for judging a contractor’s IR35 status for the first time.

What does ‘inside IR35’ mean for contractors?

With changes to off-payroll working rules imminent, experts predict a tidal wave of new ‘inside IR35’ judgements in the next few months. 

If you are a contractor working through your own limited company then you are at risk of being judged ‘inside IR35’ - but what does this mean for you and your bank account?

With changes to off-payroll working rules imminent, experts predict a tidal wave of new ‘inside IR35’ judgements in the next few months. 

If you are a contractor working through your own limited company then you are at risk of being judged ‘inside IR35’ - but what does this mean for you and your bank account?

April 2021 IR35: The key facts you need to know

A controversial set of changes to off-payroll working (IR35) rules is due to take effect in the Private Sector from next April.

For contractors, the next few months represent a crucial period in which to prepare for the changes and minimise the financial impact of the tax changes.

To help you get ready for the April 2021 IR35 reforms, we have published a brief guide with only the key facts that you need to know about.

IR35 Reforms Delayed for One Year

The government has announced that changes to IR35 rules in the private sector will be pushed back by one year, due to disruption caused by the coronavirus.

 

Budget 2021: End of the road for inside IR35 contractors

A small cohort of limited company contractors had been holding onto hope that the Chancellor would use his recent Budget statement to once again delay a set of damaging IR35 reforms.

IR35 changes were originally due to be implemented in April 2020, but coronavirus-related disruption pushed the reforms back until April 6 2021.

HMRC’s IR35 Checker Can’t Decide on 20% of Cases
marketing | 17 December 2020
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HMRC’s controversial ‘Check Employment Status for Tax’ (CEST) tool is unable to provide an IR35 status for one-in-five contractor queries. 

With a few months to go before IR35 rule changes are applied to contractors in the private sector, HMRC data shows that their online IR35 checking tool was used almost a million times in the last year.

Of the 975,416 online checks completed, the tax authority found that 505,598 (52%) were deemed outside IR35, 281,099 (29%) were classed as inside IR35 and 188,719 (19%) were undetermined, meaning the tool could not provide a definitive answer.

Government’s Meek Response to Lords IR35 Report

HMRC and the Treasury have published a weak response to a damning House of Lords committee report on off-payroll (IR35) working rules. 

Industry commentators said that while the response acknowledged many of the issues facing limited company contractors, they failed to propose any proactive solutions.